Aadhaar data safe, assures UIDAI

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) officials have clarified that Aadhaar data of citizens, stored in the UIDAI domain, is safe and has not been leaked.

While they have cautioned people asking them to be careful when sharing details on servers, they have also directed user agencies to ensure safety of the data, failing which they will be blacklisted.

A senior UIDAI official said that Abhinav Srivatsav, the IITian who is accused of accessing Aadhaar data, has been booked for misusing the name of UIDAI data by accessing know your customer (KYC) details. He did not take permission for acting as a link between the e-hospitals and the authentication service provider.

“We assure citizens that no data has been leaked from the UIDAI servers and there are no chances of it happening. However, we have cautioned the authentication user agencies to be careful. We request people to check the authenticity of the servers and their safety mechanisms before giving details. . The police should question the e-hospitals as to what security features they have installed to ensure data safety,” said a senior UIDAI official.

“This was a low-level hacking case. Aadhaar will become a currency soon. In future, it will be needed for all services. The user agencies should ensure that the data is safe. We are instructing the agencies accordingly and if they do not follow the directions, then they will be blacklisted and access blocked,” he said.

‘Data not tapped’

Explaining how the data can be tapped, the official said when the authorised agencies collect and store the data on the UIDAI server, there is a second’s gap where it is temporarily stored with them. This can be misused. But so far, nothing untoward has happened and the UIDAI teams are working on controlling this too.